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I need a team, a new ball, and some more sauce!
I need a team, a new ball, and some more sauce!
Dear Nick,
My sweetest daughter has brought to my attention, a special challenge that you brought up today with her. Now this is very interesting and surprising to say the least. That a Human from another world wants to take on the Storming Strikes in a challenge series. I shall pull some strings and have the match set up at your house. However since this shall be a a official Pony Bowlers Association challenge there is rule and regulations required before hoof. The PBA shall contact you later with the exact date and regulations that you MUST FOLLOW. I hope you can follow through and join us in this amazing event, many brands and VIP's will be there to watch. Diamond also told me about your skill and I personally want to see you bowl. If you're wondering about what the victor gets well I'll leave it like this: losing side must pay 10,000 bits. I hope you have a good day sir.
Sincerely Yours,
Filthy Rich
I throw the letter out the window and fall back onto my couch. I sigh in anger as Twilight sits next to me, trying to calm me down.
"Why do I run my mouth like this? I mean I challenge a little girl like that and completly forget she's froma rich family like that. My gosh I'm so stupid." I ask myself.
"Looks like you'll have to call it off, Nick." Twilight's voice breaks my thoughts, I look up to her with a smile.
"No, I refuse to be beaten by a little one like that! I'll tale the challenge. I know they won't be able to beat me," I look at my Deadly Aim again as I say this.
"But what if you lose? Where in Equestria are you gonna get those bits?"
"There is no, what if's. I'll win end of story."
"Please think for a moment, Nick. Filthy wants this to happen so he can make a ton of money off of you. And before you say it, no I will not give you the bits." Twilight crosses her front legs across her chest and pouts. I just shake my head.
"I would never ask a friend, especially one that is good as you, for money like that. Like I said, I shall try my best and win this thing. I've seen the completion here in Ponyville and not many carry that high of an average,"
"But his team's from Canterlot and they're one of the best in Equestria," she replies.
"Why would you know this? You kinda don't seem like the type who are into bowling as much as someone like me." I ask.
"I read the letter earlier and looked up the team. They haven't been beaten for a very long time,"
"I't doesn't matter how long they've won, anyone can be beaten on any given day." I sink further back into the couch as she shakes her head.
"Well anyway, how have you been enjoying your new job?" she asks.
"It's fine and all bu-" rapid knocking from the front door interrupts me, "-well, who could that be?" I ask. I walk to the door and open it to find a dripping wet Applejack before me.
"What are you covered in, Applejack?" I ask as the terrible smell hits my nose.
"Grease." She replies nervously. Twilight shoots her with a magical bolt and she's cleaned.
"What were you doing, Applejack?" Twilight asks her as she sits in my seat on the couch. I lean up against the wall as Applejack tells us what happened.
"I was trying to make fried pickles. I took some pickles, put 'em in the fryer and then the fryer started shooting them at me! I bucked the machine and the grease splashed all over me. So now I'm here to ask Nick if her can show me how to make some." she looks up to me with a shy smile and I nod to her.
"Lord, come by the alley tomorrow, I'm working snack bar so I'll show you," I reply.
"Ok, thank you. now what happened today with Apple Bloom and her gang?" she asks.
"Well how should I put it?" I begin telling Applejack everything from the confrontation to the letter and so fourth. her reaction was, interesting to say the least.
"Oh sweet Celestia, that's how many bits you could win?!" she screamed.
"When I win them I'll have no point to keep them so I'll donate them to someone or give them back to the team. I have a feeling I'll be sent home shortly."
"And what makes you so sure about that?" Twilight asks.
"You told Celestia. So she'll see me as a problem and will try to find the way home for me. And it's not that I'm sick of this world because I love it here, it's because I shouldn't be out of my dimension and stuff." as I finish Twilight yawns as does Applejack. so eventually we head off to sleep. I write everything down in the journal then fall under. When I awake, the sun is just peaking over the horizion so I gather my stuff and head to work.
I walk in to the very empty alley. My manger calls me in as I walk by so I go in.
"You want me ma'am?" I ask.
"Yes it's about this bet with Filthy and you. There are major stakes on the line here so I figured I'd help. Since we don't open for another hour, start up a lane and shoot as many games as you can then later tonight come back and shoot more. You'll need twenty one to have a official average in the PBA. I also got you the info on the team you're going up against, so you better read it!" she gives me the paper and I do as I'm told. In a hour I finish my thirteenth game.
"Man you can really hold your own up there, can't ya?" I turn around to see the pro shop owner Driller. He's seen me before but hasn't seen my full endurance when it comes to this many games. If you ever need a ball fixed up right he's the guy to do it, as I'm told. Which baffles me since no one needs finger holes in their bowling ball, why would he be called driller. I smile and wave to him.
"How are ya, Driller? I ask him.
"I'm fine but give your ball for a moment." I bring the ball to him and he takes it in his magic.
"Why do you wanna see it?"
"Because I want to get all of it's measurements. So if filthy pulls anything you'll have reliable back up." he starts taking notes on his note pad as a protractor measures my ball.
"How do you know about the bet, thought?"
"The alley's hosting the match, however I have no clue when. I'm going to take this into the shop and continue working with it. Come by after your shift to get it, alright?"
"Sure, and thank you for the help."
"No thank you for going up to them. Since they've been unbeatable for so long, not many teams come around much. So showing that you're not scared means a lot, kid." he walks away as I go to the snack bar and start up the grill and fryers. Working the bar isn't much, little food is needed, mostly people order drinks, which is nice for me since it's fast. So the day moves on with little customers and eventually I hear a very familiar southern voice calls to me.
"Hey partner, ya ready to cook?" I turn around and see Applejack pulling a crate full of pickles. I laugh some as she sets the crate in front of me.
"Well this is a pickle. Sorry I had to say it! But I'm not gonna do all of these. I'll do two but you'll do the rest, Applejack. So lets get started."
We started making the breading and so forth and after two hours we finished. I set them on the table in front of us and we start eating, half-way through I want something more.
"Applejack, did you know we could make a sauce to dip these in?" I ask her.
"But wouldn't that take away from the taste?"
"Here I'll make a sauce and you'll see." I go in the back and whip up my own spicy ranch sauce and put it in a small dipping cup. I set the cup in front of her and she dips a pickle in. She takes a bite of it then her eyes widen, dropping the rest of the pickle on her plate. I wave my hand in front of her face but she doesn't notice. She stares on and on, then she bursts from her chair and starts dipping more in and eating more of the poor pickles.
"OH MY CELESTIA THIS IS AMAZING!!!!" she yells in between bites. After the plates empty she grabs all of the pickles in the crate and throws them at the fryer. I grab her and hold her down, trying to calm her. As I tried that, I failed to notice Twilight and the others walk upto the counter. Safe to say they were stunned by what they saw.
"What did you do to, Applejack?" Rainbow dash asks.
"She had my spicy ranch sauce and now she's going crazy for it."
Twilight picks up Applejack with her magic and zaps her until she's calm. Once everyone is settle Twilight hands me a letter.
"These are the rules from the PBA," she replies.
I start reading them, and as I do, my fear become real.
"So he's trying to get one over me with these great." I take the paper and go into the pro shop, everyone follows as I call for Driller. He comes up front and greats us. I hand him the paper and he reads it.
"I knew, Rich would do this. Always a sly horse. Here I already made you a new one here. It's call Dead Shot, and it carries pins like no tomorrow. You'll enjoy it but I gotta ask, where's the team you need."
"Behind him!" Rainbow dash shouts.
I turn around to see her, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight wearing matching bowling shirts.
"What?" I ask in surprise.
"Rarity, made these really cool shirts for us before we got here," Twilight Explained. "I gathered everypony up before we came here and told them about the team you needed for this. They volunteered to do this becuse we want to help a friend out."
"But this is unfair to you guys though. I really apreciate it but I don't want you guys to be put out in the spot light like this. Plus we don't have a team name!" I point out.
"We already have one!" Rainbow dash shouts.
"What?" I ask
"The Elements of Bowling!" they yell in unison. Driller claps for the name and as do I.
"Who came up with it?" I ask.
"The CMC. They felt bad for getting you into this mess darling, and they wanted to help. So Sweetie, talked to the others and they gave us a name. It's also on the back of your shirts as well."
"How do you know my size?"
"You needed other clothes before remember. That was a disaster too might I add." Rarity rolls her eyes at me and I shake my head.
"Alright since I got a team, we all need to get ranked in the book so we have official results. After my shift I'm allowed to use the lanes later to get my twenty-one games in and all of you need to as well. Are all sure you want to go through with this?": I ask them. They nod in response and the day continued. Once my shift ended they came back and we bowled. Nearly two in the morning until we where done. After that we all went home and went to sleep. I sat down however and wrote more in my journal.
Today I received the rules. Here is what I violated:
1.Ball weight can't surpass 15 lb. Mine's 16.
This was very upsetting and I got angrier as I continued to read. It stated I must have a team of others that have over twenty-one games bowled and have a official average. Well tonight we got it done and everypony is tired, I hope they practice a bit more tomorrow as it'll be our final day or today actually since it's 2 AM. It was scheduled tomorrow and I really see why many don't like Rich. He's very sneaky but that's how many people are from my world.
I'm still scared about not returning but in the long run I would be happy to stay here. These ponies are the greatest friends I've ever had and probably ever will have too. I will miss them, that's for sure. But would they even care for me? Would they even remember me? Probably not and I wouldn't blame 'em.
Applejack tasted my custom sauce today and she is now addicted to it. While we were bowling tonight I showed her how to make it and she's been eating them non-stop. But I must end this entry here, the letters shall remain in this book in the back.
I open the back of the journal and I notice the song lyrics written on the back. It was one of my favorite songs. It was by Atmosphere-Trying to find a Balance, the outro part of the song. I place the letters on it and shut the book. Then I lay across the couch as sleep takes over me.
Lets end this bet already!
I got quite a sleep, but I had sadly slept through the entire day as well. I was woken up by Twilight the next morning. Here's a tip:never do that with her!
"Five more minutes! I wanna get this cookie." I mumble to the pillow, as something continues to prod at my side.
"WAKE UP!!" I go flying off the couch and slam into the floor. I look up and see Twilight smiling on the head of the couch. "Good that's better. You slept through the whole day, Nick. You might as well get your stuff ready because the match starts in a few hours."
"Wait..what time is it?" I ask in my daze.
"Well it's 8 A.M," she replies.
"So I only got six hours of sleep, great."
"Well you got about twenty-six hours of sleep actually!"
"What?" I ask, surprised.
"You're a very heavy sleeper, you missed work and everything yesterday."
"Oh joy...you ready for the tournament today?" I ask her.
"Yep! But are you ready?"
"I'll be ready whenever I need to be, now let's get out of here. We have like what, two hours before it starts?"
"Yeah, we gotta go and get everypony else ready, then we shall head over to the alley and crush Filthy and his team." We start out and gather everyone and head over to the alley. When we walk in my heart drops at the site before us. Three lanes are lit up, seats and bleachers lining behind the approach and down the other lanes, multiple cameras line the ceiling above us with reporters announcing the same thing over and over. We rush into the pro shop and find Driller inside reading a newspaper.
"I'm surprised you guys weren't grabbed by the idiot reporters out there. They've been running everywhere asking where Filthy was and what not. How is everypony? Are y'all ready to win?" He asks us, setting the paper down with a smile.
"Yes!" we shout together. But before anything else can happen, somepony starts knocking at the door behind us, we turn around to see two ponies with PBA shirts on, one with a pink mane the other yellow, both mares and both wearing black shades.
"Are you, Nick?" the pink one asks.
"Hello, nice to meet you too." I reply. "And how may I help you two today?" I cross my arms and lean up against the counter behind me.
"We need to see the ball that you brought here to Equestria. We want to see what the difference is between your world and ours." the yellow one stepped back and shut the door as Driller pulls out my Deadly Aim. The two mares take it and start examining it very, very slowly, from rolling it to feeling it all up, it took forever for them to finish. Then they set it on the counter and a drill magically appeared above it!
"WHOA! What are you doing to my precious ball?" I grab it and pull it from under the drill, then they yank it from me with magic and held me back. Then the pink mane started talking.
"The ball has an illegal coverstock and is white dot. You will get it back but it must be drilled completely through the core to be unusable." the drill makes contact with the surface of the ball and starts cutting into it.
"How is my coverstock illegal?"
"We don't have a coverstock like this in our world, plus we have no clue what else you have in it." The drill gets deeper inside.
" The coverstock is a Primer Reactive Hybrid, the core is set at dead center with the rest of the ball filled with carbon fiber. The reason carbon fiber is because it's light weight and stronger then the basic gell that a lot of Equestrian balls use today. The ball is sixteen pounds so I already knew going in that it was banned, I have a back up thank to the amazing Driller behind me, so please stop destroying my ball..." The magic holding my body fades off me and I grab my ball back.
"May we see the other?" Driller lifts out the other from behind the counter, it's shiny blue surface glistening in the light. The two mares take the ball and start examining it. I turn around to the others and tell them to go out and get ready, as they leave Rarity tosses my shirt to me and I quickly slip it on. I turn around to see the two examining my bowling shoes as I sigh in anger. Eventually they finish and leave me and Driller alone. Driller starts laughing like mad as I just shake my head.
"Oh my Celestia, that was so freaking funny! I mean I'm sorry for you ball but lord they were stupid looking, doing all that pointless stuff to your shoes!" I pick up the new ball and start spinning it on the counter. "You won't have to worry about adjusting to that by the way, I just converted the specks of your ball and made a copy, but I used the Equestria equivalent for it so it'll preform exactly the way you like." Driller smiled to me.
"But how did you get my fingers measured without needing me?" I asked.
"Gee I don't know, magiiiiiic."
"Ohhhh yeaaaaaaah...forgot about it! Anyways, thanks again Driller I'll repay you later."
"Beat them and we're even." I nod and walk out to the rest of the alley, then the front doors fly open and Filthy walks in with his team behind him.
"EVERYPONY MAY I INTRODUCE THE STORMING STRIKES!!!" An announcer booms over the speakers, filling the alley. "GIVE IT UP FOR THE ANCHOR PDW, FOLLOWED BY BARN STRIKES, RERACKING, DEADSHOT, AND FINALLY SNOWFLAKER!"
"Seriously, Snowflaker. Why?" I ask. The pink unicorn picks a ball up in her magic and fires it into a rack of pins, as the ball hits the pins it disintegrates them into dust. "OK I stand corrected!" I hold up my hand in defeat. "Sorry, nice to meet all of you and good luck!" As they walk past me the gray colored earth pony, PDW shakes his head and sighs. I walk down and join my team and we wait until they decide to start practice.
As practice commenced, I only shoot two balls on each lane to allow everyone else to waste their energy. However, I noticed Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Twilight picking up more spares and strikes then normal. Just as I noticed Twilight sat next to me on the bench, so I figured I'd ask.
"What got into you four? How much did you guys practice yesterday?"
"Well, since you decided to go and sleep away for the day, we decided to go and practice. Driller helped us with our spares and made us custom balls with the Elements of Bowling on it! They really work well with the lanes and each one matches our fur color and it has our own Cutie mark on it."
"That looks amazing Twilight, honestly I'm jealous because mine's only a dark blue ball with no real markings on it." I turn around and look across the crowd, and very shortly I spot Pinkie, Rarity and the CMC, all holding signs cheering us on. I smile and wave to them as practice eventually end. Then everyone sits down as a anouncer steps up onto the lanes.
"WELCOME EVERYPONY TO THIS WEEKS TEAM CHALLENGE. IT'S THE MIGHTY STORMING STRIKES VS THE ELEMENTS OF BOWLING!" The crowd goes wild for Storm but only a few clap for our team. "First round will be both teams best bowlers in a head to head scratch match. Round two will be a doubles match with handicap if a bowler has it; where as round three will be a triples match with handicap; and the final match of the day will be a five pony Baker style match."
"What does that mean?" Rainbow Dash asks.
"It's simple," I reply. "In the doubles two people take the shots of a frame and work together for a total score. For example, if I shoot first and hit nine pins then you gotta pick up the spare, however if I strike then you start the next frame. It'll be the same for the triples just with a different starter each frame. Now the baker style is nice, with five people everyone will have two frames to shoot, You'll have the first and sixth frames to shoot and you'll be able to shoot for your spare if you missed your strike. I myself, don't like this style of bowling because I always get into a groove then if someone takes their time it throws me out of it."
"Well thank you mister human!" the announcer yells at me, " If you didn't hear what he said this is what the matches are..." The announcer copies everything I say and then finishes with the point scoring. "If a team wins either singles, doubles or triples, it's only one point each match, where as the baker match will be three points total. Whoever has the most points wins. If a tie breaker is to happen we will do a ten pin roll-off with the top bowlers of each team. So let's get this started!!!!" The crowd goes wild as PDW steps up to the approach.
He must be the only pony I've ever seen to actually use their hoof to shoot a ball. He steps forward, crowd going silent, foreleg pull the ball behind his head then coming down and firing the ball down the lane. It glides across the second mark and snaps into the pocket. Everything slows down as the ball makes impact, pins scatter all around and the rack is cleaned,crowd going nuts over the shot. Pdw turns around and bows to them with a smile and goes back to his seat. I get up and get ready.
The crowd once again becomes silent as I set my feet, then slowly insert my fingers into the ball. I take a slow, deep breath in and then take my shot. The ball easily flies off my hand with ease and flies down the lane, but the ball snaps to early and hits brooklyn, my eyes widen as the four pin starts to stand out. But from no where the ten pin flies from behind and knocks it out!
"Boom! Messenger!" The announcer shouts across the alley, crowd clapping for me as I walk back to my seat. PDW gets up and walks past me, not saying a word, which is how I like it. I sit down and the other start patting me on the back, then we all turn our attention to, PDW once more.
His ball flies down the lane and sweeps the rack clean again. I go up and take my shot and do the same. We go like this until the seventh frame. I set up and throw my ball, it hits the third arrow but suddenly snaps to early.
"Come on, brooklyn!" I shout at the ball. It hits the brooklyn pocket but the pins go flying, leaving the five pin behind, "Well hello again mister five pin..." I mumble to myself. I convert the spare but it costs me a lot of pin count.
"Well at least ya hit it partner." I turn and round to applejack and smile to her.
"Yeah but that cost me, easily twenty pins."
"What?" she asks me.
"Welcome to bowling, Applejack. It's very weird on scoring. If you hit nine and spare every frame you'll end up with a score of a hundred ninety. See the difference of score? From three hundred to that just by missing one pin every time."
"Well that's mean."
"Oh well, anyway let's be quiet for, PDW here..." I turn around and watch him close his frame and we continue and we eventually head into the tenth frame. I begin the frame and I will say this much, if you think or say I felt pressure, you're making a understatement.
I take my first shot and strike with ease, while my second strike was a little off, I still got it. I stand up and fire my final shot, I instantly turn around, trying to not watch. I hear it collide with a solid sound, I turn and see the rack gone. I smile as my score pops up at a 279. I sit down and let out a huge sigh of relief as PDW takes his turn.
"You gave it your best and that's all we need." Twilight whispers to me. I shake my head as PDW shoots his frame. His scarlet red ball rotates down the lane and crashes toward the pocket, however at the last second it hits to hard into the head pin leaving the four-seven-six-ten split or as I call it, the big four. The crowd gasps in fright and turn back to Twilight with a grin.
"He's gotta make this to beat me. If he doesn't, he won't break 270 so I'll win"
"Oh wow..." PDW mumbles to himself as he picks up his spare ball and shoots to the six-ten. His ball slides the six pin into the seven and leaving the four pin behind! The crowd cheers PDW on trying to make it and then the annoying announcer walks back to the approach.
"And the winner is...Nick of the Elements of Bowling!" The crowd cheers as I wave back to them, "And now we shall start round two, doubles! Will the contestants please come to the lanes to see who you're battling." Deadshot and Reracking walk up. I turn around to see Applejack and Twilight go up as well. "Here are the contestants and lets begin!"
At first it was even competition. Both sides started striking hard, I also found out why the two on Storming get their names from. Deadshot magicly shoots his ball fast and straight into the head pin, whereas tracker copies PDW but must reset the pins every time because he wants a clean set, I see why Filthy would use these two, both work well at keeping a fast past and tripping up the opponents,
Twilight steps up for her shot on the ninth frame, she fires the ball with her magic but it doesn't hook until the last second and sadly hits the six-nine-ten. Applejack goes up and bucks the ball and slams the rack clean. In the end they ended up with the same score as mine and the others shot a perfect game. After the total handicap's added, Deadshot pulls his team to victory by one pin.
Now tied the Triples come up, Barn Strikes, Snowflaker, Reracker vs Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. All three work their stuff and easily take Storm down with Flutters massive 145 handicap added to their 269 score, giving us another win. With that there's a break to re-oil the lanes and give the bowlers a chance to rest. We go back into the pro-shop and chat with driller, trying to past time when all of a sudden Filthy walks in.
"What do you want Filthy?" Driller asks.
"I have another proposition for you guys." he replies.
"We don't wanna hear it!" Rainbow Dash shouts back.
"Yeah we're about to beat your team so you might as well hang it up!" Applejack joins Rainbow.
"This doesn't concern you two, it's between me and the human!"
"What is it you wanna say, Filthy? Just say already." I ask him. Rainbow and Applejack step behind me as I step up to him.
"If you remove your teams handicap: I will double your winnings. If you don't, then I shall have fun satirizing you and your team in the papers: saying how you need to gather the worst bowlers to beat a great team with only handicap!"
"I'm not surprised, honestly; that you need better chances at beating me. I guess you finally realized that my team is a challenge now..." I smile down to him, "If I even take you up on that, I'll still win. I hate to say it but your team is disappointing me, I was expecting more!"
"What the hay do you mean?" he asks me.
"Well the name of your team and your anchor are similar to a team in my world; but the team from my world would have beaten us before we started." I replied, "I'll take you up on your deal Filthy. I believe in my team and I don't have to try to turn the odds in my favor like you." He shakes my hand, very displeased at what I said and leaves. Minutes pass and we are greeted by a few PBA officials talking about the deal with Filthy once more. Eventually the call us back and we head out to the crowd again.
"Everypony, we're ready to start this final match winner takes all baker style bowling. We oiled the lanes in the infamous Chameleon pattern! So bowlers will have to be careful on where they throw. Now lets get this match started!" The announcer finishes and we begin the match.
Rainbow Dash was up first she took the first frame. She picks up her ball and spins around and slides it down the lane. Just as the ball makes it down about forty-feet it snaps and cleans the rack. Snowflaker takes her shot as well and strikes. Frame two comes up and its Applejack and Rerack. Applejack easily hits her mark and strikes for us. Rerack shoots but leaves the ten pin, he makes the spare with ease. Third is Fluttershy and Barns and they both strike. Twilight and Deadshot hold up the fourth frames with strikes too. Me and PDW don't fail the crowd and strike as well and eventually the tenth frame creeps up with strikes all the way through.
"And we are now entering the tenth frame everypony," the speakers boom, "Will this be the end for Storm?!" the crowd gasps as PDW takes his shot. The ball flies down and crushes the pins with great force. He turns back to me with a evil grin as I step up for my shot. Needing two strikes to shut them down.
I fly forward and throw my ball, instantly turning back around not wanting to watch. I hear the sound explode behind me so I turn back and see the rack is gone. I step back and wait for my ball to return. Once it does I pick it up and set up, I take a deep breath in and walk forward. The ball shoots off my hand and hits my mark.
"BRING ME HOME BALL!" I shout down the lane. The ball slams the pocket high, the four and seven start to stand tall from the crowd of pins. Just when I thought it was over the ten pin shoots from the back and knocks them down! I fall to my knees in shock as the crowd behind me falls completely silent. I stand up and turn back to them, then the crowd explodes with applause and cheers.
"They have done it! The Elements of Bowling have defeated the Storming Strikes and have ended their win streak!" I turn around and throw my final shot. The ball snaps and hits brooklyn getting another strike and giving our team a perfect score! After everything settles, Filthy gives me the bits and walks out angry with his team right behind him. We get our stuff put up and head to Pinkies to celebrate.
As we partied for hours a surprise knock came from the door. Pinkie opens it to see both Luna and Celestia behind it. They came to join in the celebrations as well. They both came to me and congratulated me on the win but I tell them it was all our hard work as a team. Then Luna tells me some interesting news.
"We have made a spell to send you back to your world too." I fall back in my chair at the news and everyone around stops.
"Wow..so I have to go back, huh?" I ask. Celestia decides to answer me this time.
"I gave some thought to this and here are your choices Nick. You can stay and live here but you would have to get your own house and with the bits you just won you can easily buy a nice place to live or you can head home."
"Well you seem very strong in making me leave. But I will have to say...I'll"-everyone gathers around- "go home..." If I had a dollar for every pony that gasped I would be rich.
"But we thought you liked it here with us!" Dash starts. I wave my hand to calm her.
"I do love it here and to be here with all of you is great. However this isn't my world and I don't need to be here and drive you all crazy."
"Are you sure Nick? I thought you liked my couch." Twilight laughs to her joke.
"I would at least think you would want me to leave Twilight. I mean I wouldn't want people thinking there was something up with me being here all the time. Anyway I need to head over there and get somethings before I leave." I head over grab my little stuff like my bowling gear and stuff. I head upstairs and write down everything that happened in my journal. Then I hide it on a book shelf next to me and run down stairs.
When I walk out I see a spiraling portal behind Luna. I wish everypony goodbye and give hugs to everyone there. I step to the portal and turn back to them one more time.
"I enjoyed it here everyone and I will miss all of you. You all were the greatest friends I ever had. So see ya!" They wave to me as I fall backward into the portal. I close my eyes as the pressure around me felt like I was falling from the sky. I feel the spell stop and I open my eyes to my cars headlights. I get up as the moon light falls on me. I open my car door and toss the stuff inside and start up the car with my spare key. The radio turns on with the date and it was exactly the same date as Equestria. I look over to the passenger seat and see a note on it.
"If you are wondering where your stuff is. I put everything in you glove box for you. I have a feeling you'll find your car before anything else since it's your baby and what not I hope your ok though. Call me- Darius."
I call him and thank him for what he did. He tells me about a search went for me for about a day or two but it was called off since my family didn't seem to worried about me. He also reminds me about a deal I needed to get for him and since he kept my car safe and stuff I needed to get it done for him. So we end the call and I take off into the night. Not expecting everything to flip upside down as they did that night...
Twilight was reading quietly to herself in her personal bedroom when a knock came at the door. She flew down to see it was her friends coming over for a visit. They all go upstairs to her living room and they sit down and start talking about different things. And as always Pinkie get rowdy and starts looking around the room.
"Twi, do you have any good books to read?"
"Sure Pinkie, I'll go grab some." Twilight gets up and heads into her study to grab a few books. She looks across the shelf until a certain book catches her eye. She pulls the old book out and opens it up. Most of the pages are damaged very badly but she starts reading it and then drops it. "This is...Nicks journal!" She picks it up with her magic and runs back into the room. She slams the book on the table and everyone looks down on it.
"Uh, Twilight what's this darling?" Rarity asks.
"Remember Nick? This is his journal he left."
"Oooooooooh.LETS READ IT!" Pinkie shouts as she grabs the book.
"Are you sure Pinkie?"
"Yes! I'll start off on this page!" She starts reading the book out loud.
I wake up from my sleep and turn in my bed. I sit up and notice my bowling ball sitting by my feet at the edge of my bed. The memories flooding my mind as everything came back.
"So this is their world,huh?" I ask myself, quietly. I notice my clothes laying on a chair on the other side of the room. I get up and change back into them from this small gown I have on. I sit back on the bed and pick up my Deadly Aim, looking closely at the surface to see if the oil settled into the ball. Sure enough it did so I wrap the ball into my gown and lay it in front of the window behind me. A few minutes pass until there's a light knock at my door. I look up to see a white pony, with a nurse hat on walking in with a smile on its face.
"Well it's nice to finally see you awake. How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Well...I'm alive so I guess ok. But what do you mean by finally awake?" I ask nervously.
"When you fell from the portal that orange bowling ball hit you on the head, knocking you out. So you've been here for about three days."
"Oh my..." I feel the back of my head and touch the sore spot. I flinch from the pain.
"Don't worry though. It's gonna sting for a little while but you'll recover soon. Now I must go and notify Princess Celestia about your condition quickly!" She said as she ran out of the room.
"Well it looks like I owe them a lot now or we're even since they destroyed my car. But wait they stopped it and fixed it. I hope I wasn't a burden on them much..." I fall back onto the bed with a sigh. But i hit the bed too hard and it hit the wall, causing my ball to fall out of the window and hitting a piece of metal below the bed. I start to look at what it hit but the bed shot up and flipped me off it. I smack the floor face first and the rest of my body follows. I get up and notice the ball hit and broke a small metal box that had buttons on it.
"Great, it's gonna be one of these days." I shake my head in disbelief as knocking comes from my door again. The same nurse walks in but with what I assume two guards behind her.
"Um, why are you on the floor?" she asks with concern.
"Because I'm polish. Actually the ball fell from the window and hit the bed controls and the bed flipped me off it. If it's broken I'm terribly sorry, also what's with the guards?" I ask as I look at their blank stares.
"They're here to escort you to Celestia'smain throne room. And don't worry about the bed. It never worked right anyway," she said as she smiled.
"Well thank you for the excellent care, even though I slept through most of it." I hold my hand up to shake hers but I forgot she didn't have hands. She holds her hoof up instead and I shake it. The the two guards point towards the door and I follow them. As we walk through the building I start to notice everything changing. The white hospital walls turning into old rocks as we continued on. Since the nurse said we were heading to her throne room I assume that this place is a castle. My assumption becomes true as we turn a corner and I spot these amazing stained glass windows. As we walk past I notice some of the ponies in them look oddly familiar, but I shake off the thought. There's no way that purple pony there is Twilight, is it? We reach these gigantic door with more guards standing on both sides, all looking like statues.
"Open the doors!" a guard announces. They open up with a bright light shooting out of them, blinding me. The light dims down and I see Celestia, standing in the door way with a smile on her face.
"Pleased to see you again, Nick. please come in." she pointed her upper leg to the room behind her and I followed. As we walk down the throne room the chamber doors slam shut. We both stay quiet as we walk down, making it very awkward. She sits back up in her throne and i stay down on the floor. She finally breaks the silence.
"Well since you finally woke up, how are you feeling?" she asked.
"Good I guess, but I'm not worried about my health and none of you should either. What I want to talk about is how am I going home?"
"Why should we not worry about your health, Nick?" Celestia asks, with a confused look on her face.
"I appreciate the attention princess, but I hate myself when I become a burden to others. Even if they are from another dimension, I just...whatever. Anyway why did you guys come to my world anyway?"
"My magic kinda sparked to fast when I was trying to teleport to Twilight and her friends. So instead of teleporting to them I teleported all of us to your world by mistake. But it was a nice mistake to meet someone as nice as you," she smiled to me.
"Well thanks but is there anyway back or am I stuck here?"
"Since you've arrived me and my sister have been looking nonstop, but we have found nothing yet. But until then we will supply you with the necessities needed until we get you home..."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine no matter what the outcome is and-" a small burst of light pops up behind nick, "-and what just happened?!!" I turn around to see Twilight Sparkle standing behind me. Her wings spread out and sparkles floating around her.
"Hello nick, it's great to see you awake finally!" before I could react she grabs me into a bear hug.
"It's nice to see you too, Twilight. Can you let me breath?" she releases me as Celestia chimes in.
"Good Twilight, you're here now we can go on discussing our plans. Did you contact, Discord?
"Yes, he said he will be here later today to help. He said some other things but he's coming anyway,"
"Good, now since your friends are worried sick about Nick, how about you guys head to Ponyville for the day?"
"Whoa, wait a sec!" I say surprised. "Won't others get scared because I'm a completely different being?" I'm pretty sure if they get scared of my car alarm, then who knows what'll happen to me if I go out there. As the thought hits me Twilight shakes her head.
"You won't have to worry. They'll think you're one of my experiments or something. And besides Applejack and Rainbow Dash have asked me a lot about your condition over these few days."
"OK I guess, but I'm not someone anyone should worry about. Princes Celestia, was there anything else that came through with me?" I ask.
"Yes, your other pair of shoes. Guard!" she yells. A guard gallops up behind me and drops my sneakers next to me then walks back. I flip off my bowling shoes and put them on instead.
"Alright, we shall contact you if anything comes up. I hope you have a fun time in Ponyville Nick," said Celestia. Before I could do anything, Twilight puts a hoof on my shoulder and we disappear from the throne room. I open my eyes to a...library!
"Twilight why did we end up in a library?" I asked.
"I live here that's why! This is my house and the main library of Ponyville!" she smiles as she flies up into the air.
"One doesn't simply enjoy libraries, Twilight." she flops down in front of me. "Heck in my world not many even exists thanks to technology. Every book becoming electronic and easy to grab. Book will eventually become outdated at some point. Which I hate to admit but the day's coming." I sit back onto the couch with a sigh and she hops up next to me. She starts to say something when a loud shot rings out. Books start flying at us as we jump over the back of the couch.
"WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" an over excited voice shouts into the air. I look up and see Pinkie Pie crash into the wall in front of us. She hits the ground but turns around instantly like nothing ever happened with a smile.
"Oh my gosh, Nick!!!!!" she grabs me and pulls me into a hug. "It's been forever since I've seen you. You came flying out of the portal thingy and you were like-boom- and lying there next you your ball and I was like-NOOOOOOOO-and everypony was like whaaaaaat!" She drops me onto the ground and we all laugh. Then there's a knock at the door and Twilight answers it while me and Pinkie pick up the books that are on the floor. I turn and put a book on the shelf as a lasso grabs me and pulls me back. I turn around to see Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy, all at the door way.
"Gosh, it's about darn time you woke up. How ya feeling, Nick?" Applejack asks.
"I'm well, How about you?" I ask.
"Better now with you back! Now you can make more fried pickles for me!"
"But didn't you try to make your own?" asks Fluttershy.
"I did but the pickles kinda...blew up." Everyone at once looked at Applejack with a surprised look on their face.
"How, just...how?" I ask.
"Pickles don't like my fryer for some reason. When I put them in, it exploded and grease and pickles went everywhere." Applejack rubbed her hoof behind her head but I smiled.
"Well that's better then me when I first started cooking. I burned boiling water." everyone starts laughing, including me. We eventually sit down and start chatting about different things. They tell me about everything that goes on in Ponyville, everything they do, what these Elements of Harmony are. I finally get to the parts I really want to find out.
"So what else do you want to know, Nick?" Twilight asks me.
"Well...where am I gonna live for the next few days?" I take a sip of tea that was fixed by Spike, who showed up later after the others arrived.
"I used to have a guest room but it kinda got filled with old books. Once it's clean you can stay here. Do any of you have any space for him?" Twilight turned to the others.
"Sorry darling, but I only have room for me and Sweetie Belle." Rarity shakes her head.
"Yeah I have a cloud house, so you'll fall right out of it. Unless you drink a floating potion, then you would be ok." replies Rainbow Dash
"I got to many animals right now, sorry," Fluttershy apologized.
"I have some space in my house. It'll be small since it's in my attic but you'll fit. I hope." Applejack stated. I nod and set my tea down.
"Thank you, Applejack. Now, if I can't get back soon is there anyplace I can work and get paid in, whatever you guys use as money." I ask, face palming at how stupid I sounded,
"Bits, and yes there is work you can do. There is a bowling alley here in Ponyville you can work at!" Twilight rushes to her bookshelf and pulls out a map of the town. She scans it quickly then circles something and throws the map on top of me.
"Is that it? It doesn't even have a name on the place. Just a bunch on pin and bowling balls. Man, I should open my own business then. Won't have to make a name just have a potato on the front but sell chips instead. Ha!" I laugh to myself as everyone looks at me confused.
"What's a chip?" Rainbow Dash asks.
"A potato chip is a awesome snack. I'll make some for you guys sometime." my stomach growls at the thought of food.
"Well somepony sounds hungry!" Applejack bursts out laughing, as do I.
"Well lets head to Sugar Cube Corner. I can whip us up some tasty treats!" Pinkie shouts as she bolts out the door, Everyone shrugs and follows out. We finally reach the store after a few minute walk, winch I would've thought it was some kids store, with all the sweets on the outside of it. But we all head in to find Pinkie pulling out tons of chocolate.
"Finally," she yelled, "you guys are slow. I got a ton of chocolate for all of you!" she starts darting all over the place setting food in my hands and on my head, which still confuses me. We sit down and I place the chocolate in the middle and watch as they start eating away at it. I guess I have a bad poker face since Pinkie caught me not eating any of it, very quickly too.
"Niiiiiiiick!" she whined, "aren't you hungry?????"
"Well, Pinkie I just don't care to eat choc-" she jumps over the table and tackles me to the ground, "-olete." Ow that hurt!" she starts bouncing up and down on my chest, which isn't helping either.
"But you can't hate chocolate: it's the greatest,"- she waves her front legs over her head, -"ever!"
"Hey I didn't say I hated it, I just said I don't care to eat it. Heck I won't eat my own birthday cake at times." She grabs my shoulders and starts rapidly shaking me, screaming until she's lifted off of me by Twilight.
"Pinkie, it's a;right that he doesn't care to eat chocolate," said Twilight. She drops Pinkie on the ground and she turns back to me.
"You don't even eat your own birthday cake!" I nod "Wow that's weird." Pinkie shakes her head in disappointment but I shrug it off. After everyone finishes we all say our good-byes and depart. I follow Applejack to her massive farm that's filled with tons and tons of apples. She starts telling me about what apple they harvest, sell, etc. We finally reach her house as the sun sets behind us.
"Ok stay here. I'm gonna go in and tell Big Mac what's happening so he won't freak out." she runs inside while I sit on the steps. I gaze out at the fields of trees, looking beautiful with the suns low glow upon them. As I day dream I didn't notice hoof steps coming from the opposite side of the porch.
"AAAAAAAH! A MONSTER!" I look over to see a very small yellow pony hiding behind a rocking chair. I smile and wave to her but it seems to make things worst.
"What the hay is happening?!" Applejack bursts from the door behind me while a bigger red pony follows. They both notice the small one and walk over to her.
"I think I scared her," I reply.
"How did you do that?" Applejack asks.
"I don't know. Have you ever looked at me before?" I ask with sarcasm in my voice.
"Oh...but Applebloom he's no monster, he's a good friend of mine," Applejack tries to calm the child or filly, if I remember right. The red pony, which I assume is Big mac, looks at me with anger but I try to ignore him. Then he starts talking.
"I would have to agree with my little sister here, you are quite weird looking. Maybe to weird to stay here."
"Fine"- I stand up-" I'll leave you guys alone. I won't stay around to cause more problems. I had a feeling this would happen." I start to walk away, until Applejack's voice comes from behind me.
"Nick wait!" she shouts. I shake my head and continue walking. As I got further away their voices eventually disappeared. I arrive back At Twilight's tree house/library thing. I gotta figure out what this is but that'll wait. I knock at the door and Spike answers,
"Hello, Nick. What do you need?" he asks.
"I need a place to just sleep. I know your guest room is occupied by books but I'll sleep on the couch." Spike allows me in and I lay down on the hard sofa as he heads up stairs to tell Twilight. As I'm dozing off a feel a heavy object hit my leg. I look down to my leg to see, yet again, a book lying on it.
"Well I thought you might wanna read something before you dozed off." I hear Twilight shout above me. she lands next to the couch and I shake my head. She asks what happened at Applejack's and I tell her.
"So you left and nothing happened after that?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, as far as I know. I knew it had to happen at one point. I hope some of the people here will learn to accept me at one point, if I'm stuck here for the rest of my days."
"And that's all there is here. Everything else is ripped off."
"So that's why he came back to twilight?" Fluttershy asks.
"Yeah..I was not happy at all with Big Mac after that but oh well..." The group starts going over the other parts of the book.
"Hey heres a small part!" Dash points out and starts reading it.
So I decided to go to the Alley today and get a job as I came out I was rushed by a crowd of ponies and man were they mad. I turned and started running away as magical blasts flew towards me. I think I hit the limits of town when Twilight appeared and stopped them.
"Everypony stop!" she shouted.
"Why?" The crowd asked.
"Because he isn't a monster. He's a nice human. He's from another dimension because of a spell error of mine and-" a pitchfork flies over our heads "-that was uncalled for!" Someone in the back yells sorry and-
"I remember that. Man that was funny!" Dash starts laughing.
They continued looking in the book and reflecting on the memories that it brought back to them. All missing him more and more. Eventually the reach the back where Nick left the letters and song lyrics on the back page.
"Wait what's that?" Applejack asks.
"Yet another letter. But it's marked to us." Twilight looks on the envelope and notices Nicks writing on it. She opens the letter and starts reading it.
Hello again everypony. If anyone finds this then it must mean I suck at hiding things, anyway this is to be opened by Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie. This is only for them. Even if they don't care to remeber me I still want them to read this
I just wanna say one more time that you six are the greatest friends I could have ever asked for. I probably made the wrong choice in going back and I desperately wanted to stay with you all. But as I said I didn't deserve to be in a "perfect" world as yours. I left this journal here for you all. If you guys do or don't want to remember me is fine. I'm used to it from my world but I felt I needed to tell you all that you were the greatest ponies ever and I wish I could repay you all somehow. I hear them calling me now for me to go so I'll stop here. Also enclosed in this book is the fried pickle recipe for Applejack. Incase she screwed up again on it. XD Goodbye everypony I'll miss you all.
"Well we do miss you, you idiot!" Dash starts to sniffle a little. "You were an awesome guy to hang with!"
"Look everypony, we can't get upset with him gone..." Twilight tries to calm them but can't help herself from a few tears. After they hug it out they vow to stay happy and try to remember him in a good way.
"Maybe one day we might see him again!" Applejack points out.
"Maybe darling..." Rarity replies.
"But as he said he doesn't need to be here and we need to respect that." Twilight says.
"Only time will tell." Fluttershy replies quietly. wiping a few tears away. They continued to read the journal and they started to feel better.
A silver and blue BMW flew down the road, rain pounding the windshield. Cops fly over the hill chasing the car.
"Gosh they never quit." Nick mumbles to himself. He jerks the wheel left and turns down a narrow alley. He slams the brakes and his bowling ball smashes through the window. "Crud...Oh well I gotta get out of dodge." He watches the cops pass the alley then backs out and drives off. Car easily passing sixty in milliseconds.
Nick shoots off the highway and down a side road and into the forest. Trees pass by in a blur as he comes to a bridge that's closed off. He slams the gas and crashes into the signs and lands onto the other side. He parks the car and pulls his phone out and call Darius.
"Who's this?" Darius asks.
"Gee Obama, where do you need me to drop my car off?" Nick asks.
"Palmont Casino in Palmont City. I hope "everything's" in the car..." the line dies and Nick drives off. Thinking to himself on how he should've stayed in Equestria.
Author's Note
The parts in the journal are the parts I originally wrote but got rid of them. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this story.
Let's re-cap on everything that's happen so far. I'm sucked into Celestia werid portal hole, hit by my bowling ball in the head as I travel through and knocked out for three days straight. Oh I also wake up to be body launched off my bed since somepony decided to think it's be a good idea to set the same ball at the end of my bed and have it roll off and hit the bed controls. Then again I'm a Pollock so I would do the same thing probably, maybe. Then I meet with Celestia and find out the reason why they showed up in my world; he magic sparked as she teleported with her sister and ended up transporting herself, sister, Twilight and her friends to my world. Since I woke up she, Luna and this Discord have been looking for my way back. Speaking of Discord, I can't describe him for my life. He's literally everything thrown together.
But anyway, so I get sent to Ponyvile to live there with Twilight and her friends, since Applejack and Rainbow Dash were worried about me. I think Applejack just wanted more fried pickles but I could be wrong. Anyway after figuring out where I'm staying, which is Twilight's rock of a couch, I get dragged around learning about the very colorful place and also finding out how fast I can run since the townsfolk freaked out and chased me. Twilight had to give an announcement in her small castle about me and my being here. So now I'm not being chased but I do get the weird stare from time to time. I understand since I look so ~~Beautiful~~ OK who am I kidding, I can't even say that with a straight face. I'm lucky to have Twilight as a friend too, she helped me land a job at their bowling alley.
Yeah another alley. It doesn't even have a name! Just pins and a ball glued to the front of the building. Maybe if I get stuck here I'll open a business with a potato on the front of it, but sell chips instead! Yes that'll be the greatest evil plan ever! But they might not know what potato chips are. Oh well, I'll figure out something later.
But I do enjoy the job none the less. I was able to enhance their snack bar with new foods that don't have meat and meet most of the townsfolk which all seem pretty nice. Yes even in this peaceful world there are some bad seeds here. But you must expect that when you work in this kind of business. Anyway I'll leave this entry for now.
Time since I've arrived:1 week 2 days.
I shut the book and toss it onto the table behind me. I grab my bowling gear and head out. I was lucky that both my sneakers and bowling shoes came with me so I won't destroy my stuff. I walk out into the humid morning air. It was just gonna be another hot day, since the sun from the night before settle with a deep orange color to it. Even if that ball of fire is controlled I still can predict the heat in this place. After fifteen minutes of walking I finally reach the alley, unlocking the door and walking into the silent alley. I'm greeted by my manger and the mechanic of the alley and the day eventually starts. Noon eventually rolls around and three cute fillies come in with smiles on their faces.
"Well hello there, Cutie Mark Crusaders. What are you girls up to?" I ask them as they walk up to the front desk.
"We would like a lane, please?" Sweetie belle asks.
"Is this gonna be a one game or would like an hour to bowl?" I ask, typing away at the commuter
"Just a game for each of us," replies Apple Bloom..
"Alright, you're on lane nine girls, have a fun time," I smile to them as they walk away. It's been a rather slow day, only five lanes have been used so I go to the snack bar and grab a cup of water. I go back to the desk and sip my water quietly, watching the little ones bowl. Sweet kicks the ball and it flies right into the gutter.
"Come on, why is bowling so hard!" she yells down the lane. Scootaloo starts laughing and Apple Bloom smacks her in the back of the head. I set my water down and walk over to their lane.
"What happened Sweetie Belle?" I ask.
"This stupid ball won't hit the pins. It just misses so I'm getting another!" she pouts and levitates a ball off the wrack behind us. I kick off my shoes and pick her ball up off the ball return. I look up to the score to see she's up for her spare.
"Is it ok to take your spare shot, Sweetie? I wanna try something." I ask her.
"Fine but you're gonna miss with that ball," she replies.
Go to put my fingers in the ball but realize there's no holes to fill them in so I decide to double hand the ball. I refer to it as 'kamahamaha-ing the ball' or 'Jason Belmontie-ing' it. Yes I don't like the idea of two handed bowling but that's because I'm old school, yo! But anyway I set up and shoot the ball down the lane. It starts to get close to the right gutter but snaps and drive right into the pocket, clearing the rack. I turn around to see their jaws hitting the floor. I start laughing at them as they continue to stare down the lane.
"I think the ball's fine, Sweetie," I say.
"But..what..how did you do that?" Scootaloo asks.
"Lots of practice. I've been bowling since I was your age and continued to grow. And if I've learned anything in this sport is that you must learn patience. Nothing will change overnight no matter how hard you try. And Sweetie, next time you shoot, aim for the head pin for your best count." I turn around to see some customers starring at me in anger. I run back to them and serve them, as I approach the first customer, the crowd starts cheering me for some reason.
"That was awesome!" a filly shouts.
"More please!!!" a colt yells.
After quieting and serving the crowd quickly as possible, the CMC finished their game and left. All three of them thanking me for the good time they had and I tell them it's fine. After a few minutes a mare come to desk up set.
"Hey there are four fillies fighting outside and you better stop them!" she tells me in a angry tone. I thank her and walk outside to see what's happening.
"Well sorry you three still can't get your marks." Diamond Tiara yelled. Well this explains why there's fighting. She is always annoying no matter what you do and will whine about anything, even cut grass,she'll find someway to whine about it.
"Stop fighting, all of you!" I shout and they all look at me in fear.
"She started it!" They all yelled at once.
"What happened?" I ask.
"She started making fun of us since we couldn't get our bowling cutie marks," Scootaloo answered.
"Well it's true. You all tried before and didn't achieve them then. So just give up!" Diamond starts laughing.
"Hey that's not nice to say," I reply.
"Oh no the monkey's upset. Doesn't matter what you say, you're not a pony!"
"He may not be a pony but he's definitely a better bowler then you, Diamond!" Apple Bloom shouts. I turn to the little one in surprise but then Diamond fires right back.
"Yeah right! No one can beat my daddies pro team!" she yells with a smirk.
"Wanna make a bet?" I ask. I have no clue why i asked but I'm getting sick of not bowling anyone.
"I do! You'll lose in a blink of an eye."
"Fine ask your dad if he can set up a match and stuff and send me the info. So go now and tell him and I don't want anymore fighting between any of you," they nod and I walk back inside. The rest of the day passes without problems and eventually my shift ends. I get back to Twilight's castle and I'm greeted by a very angry princess.
"What's the matter,Twilight?" I ask.
"Here, I have a letter from, Filthy Rich, addressed to you." Oh no is all that slips through my mind as I take the letter from her magic grip.
